Headline

More Than 700 Sentenced To Prison Over French Riots

Published

2 years ago

July 19, 2023

More than 700 people have been sentenced to prison over riots in France late last month, the country’s justice minister said Wednesday while lauding the fast-track trials that have alarmed some defence lawyers.

In total, 1,278 verdicts have been handed down, with over 95 per cent of defendants convicted on a range of charges from vandalism, theft, arson or attacking police officers.

Although minor prison terms can usually be converted into a non-custodial punishment — usually the wearing of an electronic bracelet — around six hundred people have already been jailed, Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said.

“It was extremely important to have a response that was firm and systematic,” he told RTL radio. “It was essential that we reestablish national order.”

The most intense urban violence in France since 2005 began on June 27 after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old French-Algerian boy during a traffic stop west of Paris, in an incident recorded by a passerby.

The riots were contained after four nights of serious clashes thanks to the deployment of around 45,000 security forces, including elite police special forces and armoured vehicles.

Dupond-Moretti had led calls for courts to hand down harsh sentences as a deterrent, with some staying open over the weekend during the clashes to handle a backlog of cases.

Many suspects faced immediate appearances under a fast-track system that has raised concerns about the fairness of the judicial process and the heavy sentences for sometimes first offenders.

The average age of the over 3,700 people arrested was just 17, with the minors appearing in separate children’s courts.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that around 60 per cent of those arrested had no previous criminal record.

Facing widespread shock and anger over the destruction, the government has also encouraged police and prosecutors to investigate people who had used social media such as Snapchat to encourage or organise rioting.

Last week, a 38-year-old man from a suburb of Lyon was sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of public incitement of crime with messages on Snapchat.

Dupond-Moretti said it was important to “remind young people that Snapchat is not a hide-out” and if they use it to organise a crime “we can find them.”

President Emmanuel Macron told a meeting of mayors that it might be necessary in the future to “cut off” social media during major civil unrest, but ministers later said the idea was not under active consideration.

The government has floated the idea of new legislation to enable the state to fine parents whose children take part in the rioting.

Existing legislation means parents can already be prosecuted for “compromising the health, security, morality and education of their child” by failing to uphold their legal obligations.

Dupond-Moretti said some parents would be pursued over the riots but on a case-by-case basis.

“It’s not about punishing the mother who works at night and is bringing up her child on her own,” he said.

Around 23,000 fires were lit during the riots, 273 buildings belonging to the security forces were damaged, along with 168 schools and 105 mayor’s offices, according to a provisional tally from the interior ministry.

Elsewhere, prosecutors in the western city of Lorient said Tuesday they had opened an enquiry into claims that a group of young men, possibly marine commandoes from a nearby military base, helped police detain rioters.

The number of people sentenced to prison over the latest riots exceeds the number after the 2005 unrest when around 400 people were sent to jail.

AFP

Headline

Syrian Ex-leader Assad Faces War Crime Charges For Killing Journalists

Published

15 hours ago

September 2, 2025

Editor

French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, lawyers said Tuesday.

Marie Colvin, 56, an American working for The Sunday Times of Britain, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, were killed on February 22, 2012, by the explosion in the eastern city of Homs, which is being investigated by the French judiciary as a potential crime against humanity as well as a war crime.

British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar were wounded in the attack on the informal press centre where they had been working.

Assad escaped with his family to Russia after being ousted by Islamist rebels at the end of 2024, although his precise whereabouts have not been confirmed.

Other than Assad, the warrants notably target his brother Maher al-Assad, who was the de facto head of the 4th Syrian armoured division at the time, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub.

“The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that paves the way for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” said Clemence Bectarte, lawyer for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ochlik’s parents.

The FIDH said the journalists had clandestinely entered the besieged city to “document the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime” and were victims of a “targeted bombing”.

“The investigation clearly established that the attack on the informal press centre was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” said Mazen Darwish, lawyer and director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM).

Colvin was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch, which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Her career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film, “A Private War”.

AFP

Headline

Ghana’s President Sacks Chief Justice Over Corruption Allegations

Published

2 days ago

September 1, 2025

Editor

President John Dramani Mahama has dismissed the Chief Justice of Ghana following the outcome of a high-level investigation into allegations of falsifying judicial records and misusing public funds.

A five-member commission, chaired by a Supreme Court judge and set up by Mahama, concluded that the allegations against the country’s top judicial officer were substantiated and recommended her removal.

“After considering the petition and the evidence, the Committee found that the grounds of stated misbehaviour under Article 146(1) had been established and recommended her removal from office,” said the spokesperson to the President, Felix Ofosu, in a statement on Monday.

“President John Dramani Mahama has accordingly removed the Chief Justice from office with immediate effect.”

The dismissal marks the first time a sitting Chief Justice in Ghana has been investigated and dismissed from office.

While Mahama, who took office in January, has repeatedly pledged to intensify the fight against corruption, it remains unclear whether the embattled Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkonoo, will face criminal prosecution.

Headline

Danish Court Sentences Ex-minister To Prison For Child Abuse Material

Published

2 days ago

September 1, 2025

Editor

A former Danish government minister was jailed for four months on Monday for possession of thousands of images of child sexual abuse.

Henrik Sass Larsen, once a senior Social Democrat who served as industry minister, admitted to having more than 6,000 photographs and 2,000 videos on his computer depicting sexual abuse of children.

He had denied the charges, saying he had the material because he was trying to find out who had abused him as a child.

Prosecutor Maria Cingari said she was “satisfied” with the verdict but added that it was sad that someone “who managed to make the most out of their life despite a bad start finds himself in such a situation.”

“You should never be in possession of child pornography, no matter the reason,” Cingari added.

During his trial, the 59-year-old told the court he had received a link in 2018 to a 50-year-old video showing him being sexually abused when he was three years old.

He testified that he received another video clip in 2020, in which a three-year-old girl was raped in his presence when he was around the same age.

The two videos disappeared after he viewed them, he said.

He told the court he regretted not having contacted the police when he received the videos.

Sass Larsen was also accused of being in possession of a child sex doll, but the court did not find him guilty on that charge.

His lawyer, Berit Ernst, told reporters that “we’ll see if it is a definitive end or if we will appeal.”

The scandal came to light last March and led to his expulsion from the Social Democratic Party.

At the time, Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed her shock over the case.

AFP